Blogs

Rhea Halley is an adult nursing student at Robert Gordon University

I am a student at Robert Gordon University and am undertaking a three-year nursing degree. I am specialising in adult nursing and am reaching the end of my second year. RGU has a balanced course of practical and theory.

Before deciding to apply to universities in the United States, the idea of a women’s college was foreign to me. I was unaware of how many there were and was puzzled as to why anyone would want to attend an institution that only admitted women. I was naïve to the concept, having only ever attended co-ed schools my entire life. I didn't think that I would fit in at an all girls’ school.

As a PhD researcher at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow, I spend my time looking at pancreatic cancer cells and how they use energy differently from normal cells. Finding this out could help us specifically target pancreatic cancer cells, leaving healthy cells unharmed.

I arrived in Harvard Square, my red hair frizzy from the flight, face flushed from the heat and in a state of panic. In that moment, I questioned why I had decided to put myself through the ordeal of moving to a foreign nation. Then I turned around and two friendly Boston residents offered to carry my bags. I was reminded that I was not alone and that in Cambridge, help was quite literally on every corner. 

I didn’t know about dyspraxia until a friend told me about it last year at yoga. A lot of the symptoms lined up with me so I decided to get tested a few weeks later.

I have been living and studying in Australia for 15 months now, but I am originally from the United States. I grew up in Minnesota where my family were avid outdoors-people. Like classic Minnesotans, summers were spent going on nature expeditions - hiking, fishing, camping - where I developed an appreciation for nature and wildlife.

When I was in Year 10, everyone who had achieved above average exam results was asked to complete a questionnaire. We were not told what the purpose of this questionnaire was, nor what the outcome would be. After the routine requests for name and date of birth, we were asked: “Has anyone in your family ever attended university?”

Gate 86 of Stansted Airport was where my Sutton Trust journey started and now ends. One year ago, I was headed to the US as part of the Sutton Trust US Programme to experience life at a US university. Suitcase in tow and anxiety and excitement at an all time high, I travelled alongside other Scottish Sutton Trust participants.

Last month, at the tender age of 37, I graduated from Birmingham City University with an MA in online journalism. It may seem a strange concept to attend university later on in life (I’m using the term ‘attend’ loosely as I studied part-time via distance learning) but it’s more common than you might think. I know this because I work at the Open University and see at first hand the importance – and value – of studying at any stage in your life, often while spinning multiple plates.

After my first term at the University of Oxford, I was invited back to my old sixth-form college in Norfolk to talk to students who were thinking about university applications. Norfolk has a historically low percentage of young people applying for higher education. Trying to convince them that they should try applying to Oxbridge was an uphill battle and I could see why – I had also been there.